Bed and cylinder address printing machine



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BED AND CYLINDER ADDRESS PRINTING MACHINE Filed June 14, 1946 5Sheets-Sheet 4 UHHIMIHII' g- 5, 1952 w.1'. GOLLWITZER 2,605,693

BED AND CYLINDER ADDRESS PRINTING MACHINE 7 Filed June 14, 1946 Y ISheets-Sheetfi Patented Aug. 5, 1952 BED AND CYLINDER ADDRESS PRINTINGMACHINE Walter T. Gollwitzer, Euclid,

Ohio, assignor to Addressograph -Multigrap h Corporation, Cleveland,Ohio, a corporation of Delaware Application June 14, 1946, Serial No.676,667

2 Claims. 1

This invention relates to a printing machine and particularly to platenmechanism adapted to be used in printing machines. More particularly theinvention pertains to platen mechanism for use in selective printingmachines of the character wherein printing devices, which may includeaddress plates and the like, are passed in series through a printingposition for cooperation with the platen mechanism.

Machines of the character mentioned above are used in the preparation ofbusiness instruments such as utility bills, dividend checks, premiumnotices and the like, as well as for printing names, addresses and likechangeable data on letters, publications, and the like. Commonly, in thepast, it has been the practice to use a reciprocating platen at theprinting position which presses the sheet or other article being printedinto contact with the printing member which, as suggested above, may bea printing device bearing an address plate. An inked ribbon orequivalent inking device is commonly interposed between the printingmember and the artiole being printed and the platen pressing against therear face of the article causes an impression to be made from theprinting member through the ribbon onto the face of such article.

Printing devices of the character mentioned above commonly include agroup of raised printing characters, for example, characters embossed ona sheet metal plate into a raised plane which constitutes the printingsurface. The effective area of the printing surface may varyconsiderably, depending, for example, upon the number of letters orcharacters in the name, address, or other data carried by the printingmember. In the prior art where reciprocating platens have been used topress articles being printed against such raised type characters it hasbeen difiicult to secure uniform impressions because of the widevariance in printing area. In my copending application, Serial No.416,548, filed October 25, 1941, now issued as Patent No. 2,410,935,patented November 12, 1946, I have disclosed a hydraulically operatedreciprocating platen mechanism which represents an improvement overprior platen structures in that the impression stroke is accuratelycontrolled so that a deeper imprint is not produced from a printingmemberhaving few printing characters thereon than in the case of aprinting member having a large number of printing characters. Asdescribed in such application, this result is secured by using a veryrigid frame structure to support the reciprocating platen and rigid stopmeans for limiting its movement. The use of rigid and heavy framemembers is made necessary by the fact that pressures required forimprinting by reciprocating action are very high. Hence, the framemembers and reciprocating parts must be massive to secure the resultmentioned above.

It is an object of my present invention to replace the reciprocatingplaten structure of my aforesaid copending application by a rollerplaten mechanism, which will produce uniform impressions from variousprinting devices having variable effective printing areas, withoutrequiring the use of heavy and massive structural elements. This isaccomplished by using a travelling roller which produces its impressionby a substantially shifting line contact, thereby requiring much lessapplication of force and making it possible to reduce substantially therigidity and mass of various structural elements without sacrificingaccuracy and uniformity of impression.

A further object of my invention is to operate a shifting roller platenby simple hydraulic means.

- Another object is to combine a platen of the roller type, forproducing the main impressions at a printing station, with an auxiliaryplaten element for printing auxiliary data at the printing station.

An additional object is to mount a roller'platen, as well as anauxiliary platen, in a supporting frame work designed to afford adequaterigidity and accuracy of impression without the employment ofparticularly heavy structural elements.

A still further object of my invention is to mount a platen roller in atravelling carriage, in combination with mechanism for raising andlowering such roller from and to impression position respectively, whichmechanism operates in accordance with and under control of the shiftingmovement of the carriage which supports the platen roller.

Other and further objects of the present invention will be apparent fromthe following description and claims and are illustrated in theaccompanying drawings which, by way of illustration, show a preferredembodiment of the present invention and the principle thereof and what Inow consider to be the best mode in which I have contemplated applyingthat principle. Other embodiments of the invention embodying the same orequivalent principle may be used and structural changes may be made asdesired by those skilled in the art without departing from the presentinvention and the purview of the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Fig, l is a plan view of the supporting frame work and carriagestructure which comprises my improved platen mechanism.

Fig. 2 is a right side elevation of the mechanism shown in Fig. 1, thisview being taken from the front of Fig. 1.

Fig. 2A is a detail view of part of the mechanism shown in Fig. 2,certain parts being in another position.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional detail of the hydraulic mechanism foroperating the platen carriage, this View being taken substantially alongthe line 3-3, Fig. 1. I

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the structure shown in Figs. 1 and 2,certain parts being broken away to more clearly disclose theconstruction.

Fig. 5 is a front elevational view of the end plate for the platenstructure, part of the elements of Fig. 4 being shown in this figure.

Fig. 6 is an elevational viewof auxiliary platen mechanism, this viewbeing taken substantially along the line 66,.Figs. 1 and 2, and showingcertain parts in section; and

Fig. 7 is a left side elevational view of the mechanism shown in Fig..6.

The drawings show my invention applied to a printing machine of thegeneral character disclosed in my aforesaid copending application SerialNo. 416,548, now issued as Patent No, 2,410,935, and that shown in myprior Patent No. 2,296,277, issued September 22, 1942. fhus in Figs. 1and 2 there are shown frame members I i and i2 which correspond to framemembers shown in the aforesaid copending application and patent forsupporting rails, along which printing members are fed to a printingstation and for supporting a printing table which may comprise arelatively firm flat backing member I3 (Fig. 2) for the printing deviceD which comes to rest thereover at the printing station. The printingdevice D is of a well known type comprising one or more printing platesand other elements such as a perforated or other area affording controlmeans for. setting up devices to print and/or accumulate variable data.An example of such a device is that shownin rny prior Patent No.2,132,412 patented October 11, 1938. The device D may of course includeother elements such as index cards, control tabs and the like, as wellknown in the art.

The platenstructure which comprises the present invention includes apair of C-shaped supports 15. and I6 which in the instant case arerigidly secured to the frame members H and i2 by suitable fasteningmeans such as bolts or studs 5?, l8, and i9. As shown in Fig. 4, theupper arms 28, 26A of the supports i5 and I6, respectively, project tothe left and the platen structure to be described hereinafter is largelycarried by such projecting arms.

On its inner face, each of the arms'Zfi and 20A supports an anglebracket 2! or 22 which may be welded or otherwise firmly securedthereto. Screws 23 and 24 in brackets 2! and 22, respectively, support.a rigid 25 which abuts against the lower edgesof the arms 23 and 23A,and extends above and across the printing area.

Another bar 31 extends below the bar 25 and across the same area. It isadjustably supported by the bar 25 and in spaced parallel relationtherewith at three points. One support is shown at the left end of Fig.2 and consists of a hollow adjustable abutment screw 32 and a supportingstud 33 which is threaded to and passes through the hollow screw 32 tohold the bar 3! against the lower end of the outer screw. Near its rightend, as seen in Figs. 1 and 2, the bar 3| is adjustably spaced from bar25 by two abutment screws 35 and 36 located near the opposite edges ofboth bars. Midway bet-ween the abutment screws 35 and 36 there isprovided a supporting stud 3'! which holds the bar 3i up against theends of said abutment screws. By adjusting these various abutment screwsand supporting studs the bar 3% may be adjusted in position to tilt iteither lengthwise or crosswise so as to dispose platen mechanismsupported thereby in proper parallel relation with respect to theprinting surface of the device D and any other printing elementssupported by or in conjunction with the table surface l3.

At its ends the bar 25 supports a pair of verti cal flat plates ti and:32 secured thereto as by screws 33 and 44. These two plates serve asend frame members for supporting three shafts lfi, t5, and t! .as wellas certain other elements. to be described hereinafter. The three shaftsmentioned respectively support rollers 5!, 52, and 53 for feedingpaperinto and through the printing position as willbe described hereinbelow.The feed roller 5% ispreferably separated into two parts asv bestshownin Fig. l, the rear part 5lA being so spaced from the front part 5%as to permit an arm 56 to be supported at anintermediate point on theshaft. tifor a purpose to be described below. A similar and parallel arm54Ais supported by the-same shaft '45 at its rear end for a similarpurpose. Theshafts 45, 56-, and 4'! are held against rotation beingrigidly secured to the end frame. member 4i and 42 so as to serve. asspacers and longitudinal frame members therewith to complete a carriageframe structure. .Thus.screws shown at 55,56, and 51, Fig. 4.. are usedto secure front end of the three shafts mentioned to the. front endplate and, similarly, screws 58 and 53 Fig. l, are used to secure therear ends of the shafts to the rear plate 42. r r

A slidable carriage structure comprising a pair of side plates El. and62, held in spaced relation by a pair of bars 5%, supports the platenroller which presses the article to be printed. intocooperation withprinting characters on the printing device or member D. Each of theseside platesv has its upper end bent inwardly toward the other at rightangles at. GM. and 62A to overlie the upper side edges of bar 3!. Bythis construction the carriage is mounted to slide back andforth alongthe bar 3| which thus constitutes a guide rail for the carriage.

The carriage side plates 65 and G2 are each provided with three rollers83 mounted in position respectively to ride in two parallel grooves 64formed in the bottom face of the bar or guide rail 3! nears its oppositeedges as best shown in Fig. 4. Each of the rollers 53 is preferablymounted on itsside plate 6! or 52 by means of a stud or bolt'Ez'a. Eachroller is preferably provided with anti-friction bearings, for example,ball bearings, since these rollers are designed to take the thrustbetween thecarriage and the supporting rail 3| when the platen roller isin its impression position.

The lower portion. of each of the plates ti and '52 is provided with avertical slot 5'! in which a pair of bearing blocks 53, 63 may bemounted. These bearing blocks 58 and ii"; are preferably rectangular incross section and of a width to slide freely up and down in the slots61'. A shaft H mounted in the bearing blocks 68 and '69 supports theplaten roller 12. This roller is composed of two parts 72A and 123 asmore fully described hereinafter:

The inner ends of the bearing blocks 68 and 69 are turned toformoylindrical boss portions which are slidably received in curved camslots 14 in each of a pair of movable cam plates 16 and H. These platesare pivotally supported on the inner faces of the plates 6! and 62 byashaft 18 .to which the cam plates are rigidly secured against rotation.The shaft 18 projects throughboth carriage side plates and its left end,Fig. 4, shown also at the front in Figs. 1 and 2, is provided. with anarm 19 which is rigidly secured to the shaft 18. The arm 19 carries acam follower in the form of a flanged roller 3!. The cylindrical portionof such roller BI is adapted to contact and run along the cam shapedlower edge 82 of a plate 33 which is mounted in parallel spaced relationwith the left side of the carriage, being best shown in front of thecarriage in Figs. 1 and 2.

The plate 83 is secured along its upper edge to a rod or shaft 8A. Theshaft 84 has reduced end portions 85 and 85 which are pivotally mountedin fixed bearing blocks 81' and 88 respectively. These blocks are eachrabbeted to form a flange which projects to the right, or to the rear asseen in Figs. 1 and 2, to underlie the left edge of the bar or rail 3i.The block 87 is secured to bar 3| as by a screw 89 and the block 88 issimilarly s cured as by a screw 90.

At the rear end of the shaft 84 its reduced end portion 85 is providedwith an adjustable collar 9| secured to the portion 35 in any suitablemanner as by a set screw or the'like. Similarl at the front end thereduced portion 86 has another collar 92 secured thereto. These collarsmay be adjusted lengthwise of the shaft 84 so as to position such shaftadjustably with respect to its end supporting blocks 8'! and 88. Bythese means the position of the cam element 92 on the lower edge of thecam plate 83 may be accurately adjusted with respect to the slidablecarriage structure,

so as to raise and lower the platen roller 12 at L the proper times inrelation to its travel.

At its lower front corner, shown at the right in Fig. l, the cam plate83 is provided with a tension spring 93, the other end of which .issecured as to a stud 94 in block 88 to urge the cam plate clockwise ortoward the carriage side plate 6|.

The rear end portion of the lower edge of the cam plate 83 is split fromthe remainder of the lower edge portion and is offset at 95 to the left,

or to the front as seen in Fig. 2. When the car- 82 behind the offsetportion 85, the plates 16 and Tl swing to the position shown in Fig. 2Aand raise the platen roller out of the impression position to the topsof the slots 67 in the carriage side plates. As the carriage returns toits normal forward position the cam follower 8| runs along the insideface of the cam plate 83 until the carriage reaches its extreme forwardposition shown in Fig. 2A. At this point the cam edge or track .82 iscut away above the cam follower 8! so that the, plate 83 is permitted toswing toward the carriage, under influence of' spring 93, and thusdispose the cam plate in alignment with the cam follower for the nextoperation of the platen carriage. Hence, on the next movement to therear, the cam follower 8| will again ride along the edge 82, beingforced downwardly by such cam to the position shown in Fig. 2 as thecarriage starts its movement to the rear. This of course disposes theplaten roller in its operative or impression position for the rearwardtravel of the carriage.

With the roller in impression position, the carriage is moved to therear by a hydraulic piston lill mounted to slide in a hydraulic cylinderI112. The piston abuts against the forward end of the right side plate62 of the carriage and hence when hydraulic fluid is forced through aconnection I03 into the cylinder I02, the piston moves rearwardly anddrives the platen roller across the printing member, until the camfollower BI rides off the end of the cam track 82 behind the offsetportion 95 as described above. A tension spring 504 is secured at oneend to a stud I05 on the carriage and its other end to a lug 106 securedto the front end plate 4|. This spring returns the carriage to itsnormal forward position as hydraulic fluid is withdrawn from thecylinder I02. The piston l0! slides through a suitable hydraulic packing10'! which is fluid tight, as well known in the art. A bleeder valve,indicated at I08, of any appropriate size and type is utilized forventing air from the hydraulic cylinder in order to maintain properhydraulic conditions within the system, as is well known in the art. Areturn line 109, Fig. 3, is provided also for carrying any liquidleaking past the packing l0! back to the hydraulic supply.

For limiting the rearward stroke of the carriage there is provided aspring buffer Ill secured in the hollow head of an adjustable screw I I2which is threaded into a block I l 3 fastened to the lower face of thetrack bar 3! as by screws I I4. A locking nut H5 holds the buffer III indesired adjusted position.

As mentioned above and as shown in Fig. 4, the platen roller 12 ispreferably composed of two separable sectionslZA and 12B removablysecured to the shaft II. The section 12A, shown at the left in Fig. 4,is of appropriate diameter to contact the back of the sheet or otherarticle which is being printed by characters on the printing device D.The part 123 is smaller in diameter, constituting merely a spacer tohold the part 12A in proper alignment with the printing characters.Printing devices D utilize printing plates having various widths andwhen it is necessary to shift to a different type of printing device,for example one having more lines of printing characters thereon, awider roller section 12A is employed together with a correspondinglynarrower portion 123. Hence, by the selection of appropriate pairs ofroller sections, the effective widths of the platen roller may be variedas desired to cooperate with various types of printing members.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, it will be noted that the platen rollercarriage traverses only a part of the full length of the carriagesupporting structure. In printing machines of the character to whichthis invention is particularly applicable,

it is commonly desirable to print certain data in addition to thatcarried by printing devices D. Such data may be variable data, forexample, a date, a serial number, a numerical quantity, or

a sum of money or the like. Variable data may be set up to be printed bythe employment of selectively movable variable printing members forexample, numbering heads and the like. Usually such auxiliary printingmembers are designed to print relatively few characters and consequentlythe effective printing surface presented thereby is quite small ascompared with the effective printing surface of printing devices D.Hence, the forces required for obtaining an adequate printing impressionfrom such auxiliary printing elements are much less than required intaking an impression from the printing device D. Consequently the use ofa roller platen is not necessary but a small reciprocating platenstructure may be employed. Such a platen means is provided in thepresent invention for cooperating with auxiliary printing members of thetype mentioned above and will next be described.

Referring to Fig. '7, the platen roller 72 and its supporting carriagestructure are shown in their extreme rear positions, and the auxiliaryplaten mechanism is shown at the rear of the carriage and roller. Thearms 54 and 54A, shown in Figs. 1 and 6, and mentioned above, arepivoted on the roller shaft -35 at their right ends as seen in Fig. 6.These arms are joined by a bar I2! extending parallel with thesupporting bars and 3I previously described. A platen member I22 isadjustably secured below the member IZI as .by a pair of abutment screwsI23 and I24 at the ends of the platen element and a supporting stud I25at an intermediate position. By these means the bar platen I22 may beadjusted into parallel relation with respect to the printing elements(not shown) with which it cooperates.

At an intermediate part of its lower edge, located substantially midwaybetween the ends of the platen bar I22, the bar I2I is notched toreceive a plate I25 which is secured to said bar by appropriate meanssuch as rivets or screws I 21. This plate extends to the right as seenin Fig. 6, and its upper surface is tapered somewhat for cooperationwith a roller I3! carried by a pair of arms i32 fixed to and dependingfrom a short shaft I33. The shaft IE3 is supported in slot in the lowerface of a longitudinal bar I34, Fig, 2, which is secured at its ends tothe rail member ill by screws, or the like, I35. As shown in Fig. 1 theslot extends longitudinally to receive the shaft I33 and a pair ofL-shaped brackets I35 and I3! are provided to hold the shaft I 33 in theslots. These brackets are held to bar l34 by any suitable means such asscrews I38.

A bell crank MI is pivotally mounted on the rear end of the shaft 47which supports the feed roller 53 previously mentioned. A depending armI42 of such bell crank has attached thereto a link I43 which extends tothe left as seen in Fig. 6 to connect to an arm I 44 keyed to shaft I 33which also has keyed thereto the arms I32 upon which the roller I3I ismounted. The other arm of the bell crank I4I extends to the right, asshown at I45, Fig; 6,'to connect to a substantially vertical link I47. Alongitudinal adjustment I48 is provided for such link and its lower endI4lA is attached to an arm I49. The arm I49 is rigidly secured to a hubmember I5! mounted on a shaft I52 suitably supported in a pair ofmembers I53 and I54 in the lower part of the machine. At its rear endthe hub member I5I has rigidly secured thereto an offset arm 55 providedwith a cam follower I5? at its end. An operating cam Nil is rotated by ashaft I 62 which extends through the frame members I53 and I54 and isdriven in appropriate timed relation with other parts of the machine inan obvious manner by means not shown. Rotation of cam IBI rocks the armsI55 and I49 to move the vertical link I41 downwardly at an appropriatetime in the machine cycle and thus forces the roller It]! to the left asseen in Fig. 6 over the sloping upper surface of the plate I26. Thiscauses the platen supporting arms 54 and the platen itself toswingdownwardly into impression relation with the auxiliary printingelement (not shown). A tension sprin I65 secured between a stud I56projecting from the auxiliary platen and a stud I61 mounted in the barI34 to return the platen to its normal raised position after the rollerI3I is withdrawn to the right as seen inFig. '7. A spring III connectedbetween the arm I55 and a fixed element of the frame is effective tohold the cam follower I5! against its cam and to cause the roller I3I tobe withdrawn to the right after an impression has been taken, thuspermitting spring I55 to raise the platen I22 to its normal non-printingposition.

Mention was made hereinabove of the paper guide rollers EI, 52 and 53through which a strip or web of paper may be advanced across theprinting field to take an impression from printil'lg elements in suchfield. It will be understood that the primary article on which animprint is to be taken is normall a sheet or the like which is fed overthe table surface and above the printing devices D in timed relationwith the feeding of such devices D. Thus as shown in Fig. 4, a sheet S.to be printed may be advanced by any suitable means, such as meansshown in my aforesaid Patent No. 2,296,277, to printing posi tion. Forsome purposes, however, it is desirable to retain an additional copy orcopies of at least part of the data, for example the variable dataimprinted under the auxiliary platen mechanism described above. In suchcases one or more webs W, W may be led around the rollers El, 52, 53 andmay be advanced intermittently'by suitable web feeding means, not shown,after each in print has been taken. The means for so advancing the websmay be selected from numerous types of feeders well known in the art.

One of the webs W or W may be a carbon coated strip to serve as aninking medium for the other. Both webs may be advanced, in cooperationwith a sheet S, to a position overlying printing members and underlyingone or .both of the platen means described above. When the platen meanspresses the webs and sheet against the printing I members, data isrecorded on both. If desired,

the imprinted web or webs may be rewound in the machine or may besevered into strips or sheets by appropriate means.

By comparing the platen mechanism described above with that described inmy aforesaid copending application Serial No. 416,548, it will be notedthat the present mechanism is lighter and requires a less complexhydraulic system. For certain purposes it has marked advantages overreciprocating platens previously used in machines of the generalcharacter described hereinabove.

Hence, while I have illustrated and described the preferred embodimentsof my invention, it is to be understood that these are capable of variation and modification and I therefore do not wish to be limited to theprecise details set forth, but desire to avail myself of such changesand alterations as fall within the purview of the following claims.

Iclaim:

1. In apparatus of the character described, a pair of arms, a platensupporting framework firmly supported by said arms, a track memberadjustably mounted on said framework, a roller carriage reciprocablysupported by said track member, a platen roller carried by saidcarriage, means including a rock shaft for lowering and raising saidroller to and from impression position in said carriage, meansyieldingly urging said rock shaft in a direction to raise said roller, ahydraulic piston for moving said carriage through an impression strokealong said track member from an initial position to a final position, acam plate extended parallel to said track for rocking movement about anaxis parallel to said track from a normal active position to an inactiveposition, means yieldingly urging said cam plate to said activeposition, a cam follower connected to said rock shaft and engageablewith said cam plate during movement of said carriage through itsimpression stroke to lower said roller to its impression position, meansacting between said cam follower and said cam plate to shift said camplate to its inactive position during the return stroke of saidcarriage, and resilient means for returning said carriage from saidfinal position to said initial position.

2. A roller platen mechanism for a printing machine comprising a trackmember for reciprocably supporting a carriage, a carriage mounted onsaid track member, means for reciprocatin said carriage, said carriagecomprising a pair of side plates, a horizontal platen roller mounted forvertical sliding movement in said side plates, a pair of cam followerson said platen roller adjacent opposite ends thereof, a pair of camplates rockably mounted on said side plates having cam slots thereinrespectively engaging said cam followers and operable when said camplates are rocked to raise and lower said roller, and means responsiveto reciprocatory movements of said carriage for rocking said cam plates.

WAL'I'ER T. GOLLWITZER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,110,723 Spiess Sept. 15', 19141,225,667 McCain May 8, 1917 1,349,831 Stickney Aug. 17, 1920 1,437,461Annand Dec. 5, 1922 1,495,013 Freeman May 20, 1924 1,371,993 j HubbardAug. 16, 1932 1,919,954 Kranz July 25, 1933 1,968,292 Gollwltzer July31, 1934 2,024,594 Mueller Dec. 17, 1935 2,068,707 R-eardon Jan. 26,1937 2,157,803 Rogers May 9, 1939 2,176,371 Wahl Oct. 17,1939 2,295,267Peak Sept. 8, 1942 2,295,748 Moore Sept. 15, 1942 2,344,609 Hanson Mar.21, 1944 2,374,194 Grupe Apr. 24, 1945 2,375,793 Kidrick May 15, 1945

